Adults need vaccines too
Seniors are especially susceptible to pneumonia and yet, just 30 percent of adults 65 and older get the vaccine to protect against it, a new study has found.
We wrote a story recently about how the vaccine has been successful with kids, but adults have been underusing it. And that's been a problem because pneumonia is a common complication of the flu. This new study of 2008 figures by the Trust for America’s Health, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, offers the latest numbers on vaccine use among adults in states across the country.
The District of Columbia had the highest percentage of adults who had not been immunized -- nearly half, while Maryland was slightly higher than the national average with nearly 40 percent of seniors not getting the vaccination. Just about a quarter of seniors in Oregon hadn't been vaccinated.
It's not just low rates of pneumonia vaccinations. Just 2 percent of adults had tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough vaccine in the previous two years and a little over a third had received the seasonal flu vaccine. Overall, the report found that the millions of adults who go without routine vaccines leads to an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 preventable deaths, thousands of preventable illnesses and $10 billion in preventable health care costs each year.
So why don't we get vaccinations?
The uninsured are unlikely to get vaccinated and even for those with insurance, many plans don't cover routine shots. There's also a lot of misunderstanding about vaccine safety, the report states. The study recommends health insurance reform that closes coverage gaps and more public awareness campaigns.
